Nerves (film)

Nerves
Directed by	Robert Reinert
Written by	Robert Reinert
Produced by	Robert Reinert
Starring	Eduard von Winterstein Lia Borré Erna Morena
Cinematography	Helmar Lerski
Music by	Joachim Bärenz
Production company	Monumental-Film
Distributed by	Süddeutsches Filmhaus
Release date	22 January 1919
Running time	110 minutes
Country	Germany
Languages	Silent German intertitles

Nerves (German:Nerven) is a 1919 German silent film directed by Robert Reinert and starring Eduard von Winterstein, Lia Borré and Erna Morena.

Plot

Germany at the end of the First World War: "The fuel that war and need created in people" is portrayed as a "nervous epidemic", "which has affected people and drives them to all kinds of deeds and guilt".

The fates of various people from different social strata are described: the manufacturer Roloff, who has lost his belief in technological progress, the teacher Johannes, who calls for social reform in popular assemblies, and Marja, who turns into a revolutionary to fight against the armed forces.

“Young Marja is about to get married to Richard, but has actually loved Johannes since childhood, who has become a kind of mouthpiece for the branded people and demands social reform; when he rejects her love, which he replies but cannot reconcile with his biblical code, she takes revenge by accusing him of rape. Her brother, the factory owner Roloff, who has long since given up his belief in tchnological progress, swears in court that he has observed the attack: his psyche has long been marked by war and destruction, and soon he will be completely mad. Marja later withdraws the accusation and becomes the leader of a revolutionary group: she wants to build on Johannes' ideology, replaces his pacifist approaches with gun violence. In the end, even Roloff's wife, until then the only person who was perceived to be untouched, goes mad: she sets fire to Johannes' house and kills his blind sister, and then goes to the monastery to do penance. ”

Cast

• Eduard von Winterstein as Fabrikbesitzer Roloff
• Lia Borré as Roloffs Frau Elisabeth
• Erna Morena as Roloffs Schwester Marja
• Paul Bender as Lehrer Johannes
• Lili Dominici as Dessen blinde Schwester
• Rio Ellbon as Marjas Verlobter Richard
• Margarete Tondeur as Marjas frühere Amme
• Paul Burgen as Mann in den Visionen

Bibliography

• Shulamith Behr, David Fanning & Douglas Jarman. Expressionism Reassessed. Manchester University Press, 1993.

External links

• Nerves at IMDb